In an interview with JI, the state senator described herself as someone who supports the U.S.-Israel relationship, but not unconditionally
MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images
Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow speaks on the first day of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois, on August 19, 2024.
Add JewishInsider on GoogleROYAL OAK, Mich. — When Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow saw the news on March 12 about an attack at Temple Israel, a Reform synagogue in West Bloomfield Township, her first thought was about her 5-year-old daughter, Noa.
McMorrow is not Jewish, but her husband is, and Noa attends preschool at another Reform congregation in the area.
“This could have been us. This could have been our daughter,” McMorrow thought.
Then, as an elected official and one of the three leading candidates in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate, she released a statement condemning the attack, in which a heavily armed man drove a car that was filled with explosives into the synagogue and opened fire before dying of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. No one else was killed in the attack, which occurred steps away from preschool classrooms where more than 100 children and their teachers sheltered in place.
“I was horrified when I put out my statement that day. All of the first comments on it were whataboutism,” McMorrow told Jewish Insider in an interview in a coffee shop near Detroit last week. “Antisemitism is real.”
Recent polling released by McMorrow’s campaign shows her with a narrow lead over her primary opponents, Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) and public health official Abdul El-Sayed. But many voters remain undecided, and the state’s primary is not until August.
The FBI said on Monday that the Temple Israel attacker, a Lebanese immigrant whose brother had been a Hezbollah commander until he was killed by the IDF the week before the attack, carried out a “Hezbollah-inspired act of terrorism purposely targeting the Jewish community and the largest Jewish temple in Michigan.”
The attack was emotionally jarring for McMorrow, who got choked up speaking about her daughter.
“It was really eye-opening when I started going to services and events with Ray and Noa — the level of security did stand out to me as somebody who grew up in a Catholic church, to walk in and the first thing you see are the security guards, and they’re lovely and they’re friendly, but it just — that really stuck with me, that we need that just to be Jewish,” McMorrow said. “We shouldn’t have to think twice that somebody is going to attack her or my husband or our family or anybody, for no other reason than she’s Jewish.”
After the attack, McMorrow watched people respond to her social media posts and argue that somehow the attack was warranted or justified.
“We didn’t see that with things like the Sandy Hook shooting. When we see attacks on kids, you don’t immediately jump to, ‘Well, what about this? And did they deserve it?’ Of course not,” McMorrow said.
In the Senate primary, McMorrow appears to be trying to carve out a lane between Stevens, a moderate pro-Israel stalwart, and El-Sayed, a far-left candidate whose recent decision to campaign with antisemitic political streamer Hasan Piker earned condemnation from both Stevens and McMorrow.
In her interview with JI, McMorrow described herself as someone tuned in to the fears of Jewish Michiganders who is also trying to be a bridge-builder to the state’s large Arab community.
“Over the last week, I made it a point to reach out and talk to not only members in Temple Israel and leaders in the Jewish community, but also leaders out of the Muslim community, particularly over in Dearborn,” McMorrow said. “What I heard independently from both groups is we need to figure out a way out of this, that there is so much hurt and there is so much pain, and this is not sustainable. There is a desire to bring the heat down, but we have to recognize as leaders, we need to create open doors for people to work through their trauma.”
But sadness or frustration at events in the Middle East cannot be grounds for attacking a Jewish institution, McMorrow said.
“There are going to be differing views on what the right course of action is in the Middle East, and that should be expected in a state like ours,” said McMorrow. “However you feel about what is happening in the Middle East, the response is never to take it out on people at home. The 140 kids who were at preschool that day bear no responsibility at all for anything that’s happening in the Middle East.”
McMorrow has said she will not accept donations from AIPAC, which has been a big booster of Stevens in the past, although AIPAC has not formally endorsed Stevens for Senate. McMorrow is endorsed by the progressive Israel advocacy group J Street, which currently describes McMorrow as a priority candidate for the organization.
“I believe deeply that long-term peace and security for Israel is necessary, and I worry that the Netanyahu government is making that reality harder,” McMorrow said. She has said that she supports legislation to block offensive weapons sales to Israel, and told JI that she thinks the U.S. should play a role as a moderating force for Israel — and described herself as someone who supports the U.S.-Israel relationship but not unconditionally.
“There was a headline in the Wall Street Journal a few months ago that I think about often, which is, ‘Israel won the war, but lost the world.’ And Israel needs allies to survive. It is attacked from all sides at all times,” she said. “That’s how I think about it with the U.S.-Israel relationship: How do we as an ally help our ally in the Middle East not make the same mistakes that the United States did, even in Iraq and Afghanistan, where retribution went too far?”
In October, when asked by a voter whether she believes Israel’s actions in Gaza amounted to genocide, McMorrow said yes, “based on the definition” of the word. Since then, she has avoided using the word directly, instead saying that its usage has become a “political purity test,” an argument she also employed in her interview with JI.
“People seem to be more focused on a word than a goal, which is why I have since said this does feel like we’re splitting hairs over the definition of a word and not talking about for most people, we want the same thing. How do we get there in a way that brings people together instead of pushing them apart?” McMorrow said.
That same attitude drives McMorrow’s approach to the state’s diverse constituencies — particularly, she said, as she thinks about how to address antisemitism and hate after the Temple Israel attack. She touted a bill she supported last year that expands the definition of hate crimes and called for more interfaith work in the state.
“That is part of the responsibility and role of a senator that may not be legislative, that’s just, how do we keep doors open?” she asked. “How do we talk about the things that unite us, and how do we work together so that Michigan, given the uniqueness of our population, can be a model for the rest of the country? That even in the wake of a lot of uncertainty and turmoil in the Middle East, we can coexist?”
But McMorrow also keeps returning to something that a Temple Israel parent told her, about the “root cause” of this month’s attack.
“As I was talking to a mom from Temple Israel, she credited all of the security that they’ve invested in,” McMorrow recalled. “She said, ‘We have to address the underlying root cause, which is antisemitism and hate that led this person — whatever trauma he was going through, his first course of action was to think to attack the synagogue full of preschoolers.’”
Officials revealed the assailant had recorded a video stating, ‘This is the largest gathering place for Israelis in the State of Michigan … God willing, I will kill as many of them as I possibly can’
Emily Elconin/Getty Images
Law enforcement respond near Temple Israel following reports of an active shooter on March 12, 2026 in West Bloomfield, Michigan.
The FBI determined that the attack on Temple Israel in West Bloomfield Township, Mich., earlier this month was “a Hezbollah-inspired act of terrorism purposely targeting the Jewish community and the largest Jewish temple in Michigan,” officials said on Monday.
Jennifer Runyan, head of the FBI in Detroit, said during a news conference that the assailant, Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, made a video stating, “This is the largest gathering place for Israelis in the State of Michigan in the United States. I have booby-trapped the car. I will forcefully enter and start shooting them. God willing, I will kill as many of them as I possibly can.”
On March 12, Ghazali rammed a truck full of explosives and weapons into Temple Israel, one of the largest Reform synagogues in the country, which has an active early childcare center. Armed security stationed at the synagogue engaged with Ghazali inside the vehicle, who killed himself after his truck caught fire during the gunfight. No one else was killed.
Ghazali, 41, was born in Lebanon and entered the U.S. in 2011 on an IR1 immigrant visa as the spouse of a U.S. citizen. He was granted U.S. citizenship in 2016, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
Ghazali was the brother of a Hezbollah commander who was killed by the IDF in Lebanon the week before the attack.
In the days following the attack, US officials said Ghazali was flagged by federal government databases as having connections to “known or suspected terrorists” associated with Iranian-backed terrorist group Hezbollah in Lebanon, the FBI revealed on Monday.
If he survived, he would have been charged with providing material support to Hezbollah, Jerome Gorgon, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan, said.
“This man acted under Hezbollah’s direction and control,” Gorgon said. “He intended to kill others, not just himself.”
Plus, airlines push back direct flights to TLV
TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP via Getty Images
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (2L), New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch (2R) and Cardinal Timothy Dolan (R) participate in annual St. Patrick's Day Parade in New York on March 17, 2026.
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📡On Our Radar
Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking
Joe Kent, director of the National Counterterrorism Center, resigned from his role today over opposition to the war in Iran, baselessly alleging that Israel had coerced the United States into what he characterized as a misguided military conflict, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports.
In a letter to President Donald Trump, Kent, a former Green Beret who had reported to Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, wrote that he “cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran,” claiming that the Islamic Republic “posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby.”
Kent, a hard-right former congressional candidate with isolationist foreign policy leanings, has previously promoted conspiracy theories, echoed pro-Russia messaging and associated with white supremacists and neo-Nazis, among other controversies. He’s now expected to appear on the podcast of his ally and friend Tucker Carlson…
After being largely rejected by foreign leaders on his repeated calls to assist in the war with Iran, Trump claimed in a post on Truth Social that, “Because of the fact that we have had such Military Success, we no longer ‘need,’ or desire, the NATO Countries’ assistance — WE NEVER DID! … WE DO NOT NEED THE HELP OF ANYONE!”
Asked about the timeline of the war by reporters in the Oval Office this afternoon, Trump said, “We’re not ready to leave yet, but we will be leaving in the … very near future”…
Reports indicate Iran’s security forces, despite being badly battered by the U.S. and Israel, are conducting renewed crackdowns on the Iranian public and potential dissenters. At least 500 people have been arrested since the start of the war, and new security checkpoints are being deployed for regime oversight…
Major U.S. airlines have extended their suspensions of direct flights to Tel Aviv as the war continues, JI’s Haley Cohen reports, with both United and Delta airlines not offering any direct flights until June.
The first direct flight on United Airlines between Newark Liberty International Airport and Ben Gurion Airport is available on June 16, while the first direct New York to Tel Aviv flight on Delta Airlines is available June 1. United’s direct flights from Israel to Chicago O’Hare and Washington Dulles International Airport are also suspended…
U.S. Special Envoy to Syria Tom Barrack denied reports that the U.S. is encouraging Syria to deploy forces into eastern Lebanon to help disarm Hezbollah, as the IDF begins to carry out ground incursions in the south of the country…
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continues to post “proof of life” videos on social media amid internet conspiracy theories that he has been killed and replaced by a look-alike…
Trump’s decision to withhold his endorsement in the Texas Senate GOP runoff all but guarantees that Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton will both appear on the May 26 runoff ballot, as neither have dropped out of the race ahead of this evening’s deadline…
Maine Gov. Janet Mills released her first attack ad against her Democratic primary rival in the race for U.S. Senate, oyster farmer Graham Platner, highlighting social media comments he made about sexual assault that have marred his campaign. In the ad, several women read disparaging comments made by Platner on Reddit over a decade ago relating to rape, and a picture of Platner’s Nazi tattoo — which he has since had covered — is displayed under a magnifying glass. “The closer you look, the worse it gets,” the ad’s narrator says…
The Wall Street Journal spotlights the gamble being made by Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker as he expends political capital (and actual capital) backing his lieutenant governor, Juliana Stratton, in the state’s Democratic primary for U.S. Senate taking place today. Pritzker’s involvement has drawn the ire of the Congressional Black Caucus, which is backing Rep. Robin Kelly (D-IL), even though both Stratton and Kelly are Black. The race is seen as a test of Pritzker’s political clout in his home state…
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani took the occasion of St. Patrick’s Day and the presence of former Irish President Mary Robinson in New York to accuse Israel of committing genocide and to praise Robinson’s controversial tenure as the United Nations’ high commissioner for human rights, JI’s Will Bredderman reports.
“I think also of how she stood steadfast alongside the people of Palestine,” the mayor said in listing Robinson’s accomplishments. “I say this as over the past few years as we’ve witnessed a genocide unfold before our eyes, there has been deafening silence from so many. For those who have long cared about universal human rights and the extension of them to Palestinians, silence, however, is nothing new. For Palestinians are so often left to weep alone. Yet former President Robinson has never been silent”…
⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today
An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead
Keep an eye out in Jewish Insider for a rundown of the results of Illinois’ Democratic primaries, where polls close at 8 p.m. ET.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard is expected to face questions over the departure of her deputy, Joe Kent, at the Senate Intelligence Committee’s hearing on worldwide threats, where she will testify alongside other intelligence agency heads. Gabbard said today after Kent’s resignation that, as commander-in-chief, Trump “concluded that … Iran posed an imminent threat and he took action based on that conclusion,” but did not say whether she agrees herself in that assessment, something she is likely to be pressed on tomorrow.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee will receive a classified briefing on the war in Iran from State Department intelligence officials.
The Senate Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee will hold a nomination hearing for Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) to be secretary of homeland security after Trump’s ouster of Secretary Kristi Noem.
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom will hold a hearing on rising antisemitism abroad.
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DOMESTIC FRONT
As war wages in Iran, Justice Dept. reaches ceasefire with Tehran-backed network in Manhattan
Eighteen-year legal fight over the Iran-tied Alavi Foundation ends with a new group with similar leadership taking over its assets — and NYC skyscraper
NAMING NAMES
Jonathan Greenblatt calls out Chris Van Hollen, Ro Khanna at ADL’s national conference
The ADL’s annual summit comes amid high-profile antisemitic attacks during the Iran war
And Europe to Trump: Iran is 'not our war'
Peter W. Stevenson/The Washington Post via Getty Images
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro sits for an interview at the Pennsylvania State Capitol on June 11, 2025.
This P.M. edition is reserved for our premium subscribers — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next. Please don’t hesitate to share your thoughts and feedback by replying to this email.
📡On Our Radar
Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking
European countries are largely rebuffing President Donald Trump’s calls to join the war with Iran and help secure the largely impassable Strait of Hormuz. German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said today, “This is not our war; we did not start it,” while the French foreign ministry said, “Posture has not changed: defensive it is.” Poland, the U.K. and Italy similarly made clear they would not be participating in an offensive capacity…
On potential negotiations with Iran, Trump told reporters, “We don’t even know their leaders. We have people wanting to negotiate. We have no idea who they are.” He said new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei is “badly disfigured” and noted it’s “unusual” he hasn’t recently been seen in public.
Khamenei narrowly survived an airstrike on his compound on Feb. 28 as he briefly stepped outside, according to leaked audio obtained by The Telegraph, which reportedly contains remarks by an official in the office of deceased Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to senior clerics…
IDF spokesperson Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani denied reports that Israel is running low on missile interceptors, saying there is no “urgent problem” and that the military re-equips its supplies “in real time”…
Debris and missile fragments from Iranian attacks fell in the Old City of Jerusalem near several sensitive sites including the Western Wall Plaza and feet away from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre…
Twenty-three Democratic members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee wrote to Trump requesting a public hearing with Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to understand their role in “lead[ing] diplomatic engagement with Iran”…
Representatives of the U.S.-led Board of Peace met with Hamas officials over the weekend in Cairo, Egypt, Reuters reports, in an effort to keep ceasefire negotiations on track even as the war with Iran proceeds. Aryeh Lightstone, an aide to Witkoff, reportedly represented the U.S. delegation, with more meetings expected this week…
Times of Israel reporter Emanuel Fabian chronicles his experience receiving death threats from users of the prediction market platform Polymarket over his reporting on a recent Iranian missile strike in the city of Beit Shemesh…
Trump announced that Susie Wiles, his White House chief of staff, has been diagnosed with early stage breast cancer and will receive treatment while remaining in her post…
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a potential 2028 presidential contender, tested out his measured, pro-Israel messaging in a series of recent podcast interviews, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports. In his appearances on “Pod Save America” and “Higher Learning,” Shapiro made the case that, as the starting point for any public political conversation about Israel, the fact of Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state must be respected.
“I think what is dangerous here … is for those who think Israel doesn’t have a right to exist in [the] conversation. That to me is a recipe for permanent war,” Shapiro told “Higher Learning” host Van Lathan. He also pushed back on California Gov. Gavin Newsom, his potential 2028 opponent, for saying Israel could be described as an apartheid state…
Rep. Mike Lawler’s (R-NY) reelection campaign is employing a community activist, Darrell Davis, who has criticized Democratic politicians, including Rep. George Latimer (D-NY) and a county executive, for taking money from pro-Israel groups and traveling to Israel, Politico reports.
Davis accused Latimer of being on the receiving end of a “Jewish organized spending spree” and taking “about $30 million to buy a congressional seat, to represent the interests of Israel,” which he called “a horrific threat to democracy.” About Westchester County Executive Ken Jenkins’ trip to Israel, Davis wrote, “Why are they in Israel?? What more proof do people need that black Dems don’t give a sh*t about you. They are up for sale”…
The day before her primary election in Illinois’ 9th Congressional District, far-left social media influencer Kat Abughazaleh removed language from her campaign website claiming “There is no acceptable scenario that leaves Hamas in charge of the Gaza Strip,” after she had faced criticism from the Hamas-friendly outlet Drop Site News over its inclusion. Her site says that the earlier language on the page “did not accurately reflect Kat’s views or the values of this campaign”…
And the closing drama in the Illinois Senate Democratic primary is Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton’s claim that she received a deathbed endorsement from civil rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson, which the Jackson family said today he had never finalized. The late reverend’s support is seen as meaningful in the race, which includes multiple prominent Black candidates, as well as Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL)…
The Atlantic spotlights one of the main obstacles facing Maine Gov. Janet Mills in her Democratic primary for U.S. Senate against oyster farmer Graham Platner: her age. Mills, 78, “does not have a dicey Reddit history or a recently covered-over Nazi tattoo” but is still trailing in the polls, even as Platner continues to be plagued by scandals. “One likely factor: If she is elected, Mills would be the oldest freshman senator in history”…
⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today
An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead
Keep an eye out in Jewish Insider for a look at the tense runoff in the Democratic primary for Texas’ 35th Congressional District, where a fringe conspiracy theorist eked out a narrow victory over a sheriff’s deputy backed by the pro-Israel establishment.
All eyes will be on the Prairie State tomorrow, as several high-profile Democratic primaries will be decided across Illinois. Read JI’s coverage of the races to watch.
On the Hill, the House Intelligence Committee will hold its annual hearing on worldwide threats, with testimony from Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, FBI Director Kash Patel, NSA Acting Director William Hartman and DIA Director James Adams.
The House Foreign Affairs Committee will hold a hearing on reforming U.S. defense sales.
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BREAKING POINT
Antisemitism meets America’s ‘thoughts and prayers’ ritual
Democrats began calling out those who traffic in antisemitic rhetoric when they offered platitudes after an attack on a Michigan synagogue
UNDER PRESSURE
Ro Khanna facing new Democratic challenger hitting him from the political center
Tech entrepreneur Ethan Agarwal: ‘He thinks being racist against Jewish people is going to help him win the American left. I don’t care if he’s right. I just think it’s unethical and immoral’
‘That guy is our hero,’ Rabbi Josh Bennett said of security director Danny Phillips
Emily Elconin/Getty Images
Members of Hatzalah of Michigan, a Jewish volunteer emergency medical service survey the area near Temple Israel following reports of an active shooter on March 12, 2026 in West Bloomfield, Michigan.
Six weeks ago, Danny Phillips, the director of security at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield Township, Mich., arranged for the FBI to hold an active-shooter training for the congregation, one of the largest Reform synagogues in the county.
That training potentially saved the lives of 140 children and their teachers on Thursday when an assailant rammed a truck full of explosives and weapons into the building.
The education the staff received, the congregation’s rabbi, Josh Bennett, told Jewish Insider, “included the famous ‘run, hide, fight,’ and that’s exactly what our people did. And it’s only because he brought that to the front of mind that we are ready at the moment,” the rabbi continued, referring to Phillips.
The frightening incident unfolded on Thursday afternoon when Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, the brother of a Hezbollah commander who was born in Lebanon and became a U.S. citizen in 2016, breached the suburban Detroit synagogue, while it was filled with preschoolers.
Armed security stationed at the synagogue engaged with Ghazali inside the vehicle, who killed himself after his truck caught fire during the gunfight with security officials. Phillips was the only other person injured during the attack — he was knocked unconscious and remained hospitalized on Sunday, and is expected to make a full recovery.
“That is the guy who is our hero,” said Bennett. Phillips previously spent 28 years working for the Bloomfield Hills Police Department.
“Because of him, not just his heroic actions on Thursday, but the way he has treated the hiring of staff and the training of our teachers and staff, that’s what made a difference,” Bennett told JI. “Yes, he was a hero in the moment and there’s no way to overstate how incredible he was, along with other members of our team who engaged this perpetrator. But it’s bigger than that.”
Rachel Levine, director of Temple Israel’s early childhood center, said she gives tours to prospective families a few times a week “and everyone’s first question is always about security.”
“Every time I tell them, in my life, I have never felt so safe in a building as I do here,” said Levine, who has previously worked at Jewish day schools and public schools, some of which were in downtown Detroit.
“The men that are there to take care of us have really made us always feel like they are taking care of us,” she continued. “I knew [in the] moment [of the attack] that they were going to do what they had to do to make sure that none of us were hurt. And literally, they did.”
Even as community leaders are describing the outcome of the attack as a miracle, Temple Israel, one of the largest Reform congregations in the U.S. with 3,100 families, faces a long road to recovery and rebuilding.
“Our staff and teachers who were in the building are at various levels of coping,” Bennett told JI. “We are putting together professional programs to support people. At the same time we are trying to figure out the rebuilding phase. The building has already been released by the FBI and we’re starting to have insurance walk through and help us understand rebuilding. It’s a massive project. We’re talking about moving our office staff, religious school and nursery school in the interim.”
With the assistance of the FBI and Department of Homeland Security, the community has set up recovery spots for families, which includes support for mental and physical health care, as well as a space for retrieving children’s belongings left behind in the building. Bennett described it as an “emotional site as parents walk in.”
“Everyone is in a tremendous sense of disbelief. I woke up today feeling angry that we are in this position,” added Levine.
But the Temple Israel leaders also noted an “overwhelming” outpouring of support from near and far, including from political leadership in Michigan, some of whom faced criticism over muted responses as the state saw a spate of antisemitic vandalisms after the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks.
“There have been really clear messages against antisemitism at the press conferences [from] both Gov. [Gretchen] Whitmer and Sen. [Elissa] Slotkin (D-MI),” said Bennett. “There were pretty strong words that I have not heard before from leadership. I don’t know what that means in terms of legislation but we feel very protected and supported right now.”
The congregation also leaned on its longstanding relationship with the Chaldean community, Iraqi Christians who immigrated to the U.S. in the 1950s to flee persecution. “They have a huge population in our midst and their community center is directly across the street from us, a major country club,” which served as a reunification point for parents and children on Thursday, said Bennett.
“On Sept. 11 we came together, on Oct. 7 they were in our sanctuary supporting us,” he continued. “They have been unbelievably gracious and gave us their social hall for Shabbat services,” where more than 1,000 people worshipped together on Friday evening, as many more around the world watched via a livestream.
“The outpouring of financial and emotional support from everyone has been at times overwhelming,” said Bennett, who is one of Temple Israel’s seven rabbis.
While the congregation’s adults grapple with trauma from the attack and discuss rebuilding, in a testament to how well security officials, staff and teachers protected the children, Levine recalled a conversation she had with a father who picked up his 4-year-old son from the reunification point.
The boy described the day to his family not as scary, but exciting; full of “fire drills” and police.
“We practice all the time so the kids are not afraid,” said Levine.
Ibrahim Muhammad Ghazali was responsible for launching rockets at Israeli civilians during the war
Emily Elconin/Getty Images
Law enforcement respond near Temple Israel following reports of an active shooter on March 12, 2026 in West Bloomfield, Mich.
The suspect in the attack last week at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield Township, Mich., was the brother of a Hezbollah commander, the IDF said on Sunday.
The IDF announced in an X post on Sunday that Ibrahim Muhammad Ghazali, the brother of Ayman Mohammad Ghazali, “was responsible for managing weapons operations within a specialized branch of [Hezbollah’s] Badr Unit. The unit is responsible for launching hundreds of rockets toward Israeli civilians throughout the war.”
“Ibrahim was eliminated in an IAF strike on a Hezbollah military structure last week,” the IDF said.
After Thursday’s attack, in which Ayman Ghazali drove his vehicle through the doors of the synagogue and preschool building and killed himself after his truck caught fire, some media outlets noted that relatives of the attacker had been killed in recent Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon.
A New York Times article initially headlined “The Michigan Synagogue Attacker Was a Quiet Restaurant Worker” focused on Ghazali’s response to the deaths of his brother and his brother’s two children. “The auditorium at the Islamic Institute of America in Dearborn Heights, Mich.,” the paper reported, “was packed” the night of the family’s memorial.
Hezbollah called Ghazali’s two brothers, Qasim and Ibrahim, “martyrs” after they were killed in an Israeli strike, and noted that Ibrahim “kill[ed] 10 Zionists.”
CBS reported that another of Ghazali’s brothers, Qasim, was also a member of a Hezbollah rocket unit.
According to CNN, Ghazali appeared in federal government databases as having ties to “known or suspected terrorists” associated with Hezbollah. He had been questioned upon his return from his last trip to Lebanon in 2019.
The IDF has been carrying out airstrikes on Hezbollah targets since the beginning of the month, after the Iran-backed terrorist group joined the Islamic Republic in its attacks on Israel, following the launch of Operation Lion’s Roar two weeks ago.
Plus, Iranian missile injures dozens in northern Israel
Emily Elconin/Getty Images
Law enforcement respond near Temple Israel following reports of an active shooter on March 12, 2026 in West Bloomfield, Mich.
👋 Good Friday morning!
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we report on yesterday’s attack on the Temple Israel congregation in West Bloomfield Township, Mich., and talk to Senate leaders about how the incident, in which one person was injured, could affect the ongoing stalemate over Department of Homeland Security funding. We cover the clash between the center-left think tank Third Way and Rep. Ro Khanna over the Democratic Party’s approach to antisemitism, and talk to experts about Iran’s degraded missile launch capabilities. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: former Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Sarah Rogers and Jeff Miller.
Today’s Daily Kickoff was curated by JI Executive Editor Melissa Weiss and Israel Editor Tamara Zieve, with assists from Danielle Cohen-Kanik, Emily Jacobs and Marc Rod. Have a tip? Email us here.
For less-distracted reading over the weekend, browse this week’s edition of The Weekly Print, a curated print-friendly PDF featuring a selection of recent Jewish Insider and eJewishPhilanthropy stories, including: The Amodei siblings leading Anthropic clash with the White House over AI safety; Conservative students alarmed about College Republicans leader with Nick Fuentes ties; and Will Iranian attacks push Qatar to expel Hamas leaders? Print the latest edition here.
What We’re Watching
- We’ll be keeping an eye out in the coming days on how yesterday’s attack on a Michigan synagogue is playing out on the national stage, from Jewish communal conversations to debates in Washington and in state capitals about antisemitism, security funding and safety measures.
- We’ll also be monitoring the ongoing military operations in the Middle East. Overnight, dozens were injured in an Iranian strike on the northern Israeli Arab town of Zarzir. Earlier this morning, CENTCOM confirmed that four of the six crew members of a U.S. KC-135 that crashed during a refueling mission in western Iraq on Thursday were killed, with an investigation underway.
- In Iran, a large explosion was reported this afternoon local time at a Quds Day demonstration in Tehran. The IDF had previously warned against congregating in the area.
- SXSW continues today, with Tech Tribe hosting its annual Shabbat dinner this evening.
- On Sunday, Jewish philanthropists are convening in San Diego for the three-day annual Jewish Funders Network conference. eJewishPhilanthropy’s Jay Deitcher and Rachel Kohn will be on the ground at JFN — sign up for eJP’s Your Daily Phil for the latest on the conference, and say hello if you see Jay and Rachel in San Diego.
- The Zionist Organization of America is hosting a gala in South Florida on Sunday night, where the group will honor Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL), Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL) and the Justice Department’s Leo Terrell.
- In New York on Sunday, HaZamir: The International Jewish Teen Choir, is slated to perform at Lincoln Center.
- And across the country, the Oscars are taking place Sunday night in Los Angeles.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S JOSH KRAUSHAAR
It’s a testament to the level of security, staff preparation and good fortune that a potential terrorist attack against Temple Israel in suburban Detroit was foiled yesterday. The fact that no one other than the heavily armed perpetrator was killed after driving a vehicle filled with explosives into a synagogue filled with preschoolers, counts as something of a miracle.
It’s also a reminder of the consequences of what can happen when antisemitism is allowed to become normalized in our society, moving unchecked through our social media feeds and political discourse, all amid the record levels of hate crimes committed against Jews simply for their identity.
Even as politicians are reflexively speaking out against antisemitism in the aftermath of the attack, it’s hard to forget the poisonous rhetoric many on the extremes have advanced that could easily activate a lone-wolf extremist to commit an unspeakable crime.
On the hard left, opposition to Israel’s war in Gaza has morphed into accusations of genocide, attacks against AIPAC as a uniquely sinister organization, conspiracy theories that Israel tricked the U.S. into war with Iran and euphemizing the support of terrorism as merely being “pro-Palestinian.”
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), who has emerged as one of his party’s leading anti-Israel voices as he mulls a presidential campaign, had the audacity to say he “stands with” antisemitic streamer Hasan Piker — along with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who has refused to condemn “globalize the intifada” rhetoric and anti-Israel Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner — during the Michigan synagogue terror attack.
Former Obama deputy national security advisor Ben Rhodes and his “Pod Save America” colleagues are now declaring that anyone who supports the Iran war — a group that may well include some Jewish Democrats in Congress who are sympathetic to the operation’s aims, even if they have reservations — should be primaried, and have no place within the Democratic Party.
On the hard right, extremist podcasters are broadcasting the most undiluted antisemitism in media since the days of Father Coughlin in the 1930s. Tucker Carlson has devoted much of his show to promoting conspiracy theories about Jews, while other social media influencers have found that attacking Israel and questioning Jewish influence is a ticket to building a niche audience in online spaces. Gatherings of young right-wingers have all too often become cesspools of anti-Jewish hate.
TEMPLE ISRAEL ATTACK
Assailant killed in active shooter situation at Michigan synagogue
An assailant was killed during an active shooter situation at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield Township, Mich., law enforcement officials confirmed on Thursday afternoon. One other person, a security guard, was injured, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports.
Probe details: The attack is being investigated as a “targeted act of violence against the Jewish community,” Jennifer Runyan, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Detroit field office, confirmed in a Thursday evening press conference. A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson confirmed to JI that the attack was carried out by Ayman Mohamad Ghazali. Ghazali, 41, was born in Lebanon and entered the U.S. in 2011 on an IR1 immigrant visa as the spouse of a U.S. citizen. He was granted U.S. citizenship in 2016, according to DHS. Law enforcement officials did not release information on a possible motive.
SECURITY RECKONING
Michigan synagogue attack seems unlikely to shift DHS funding stalemate
The car ramming and shooting attack at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield Township, Mich., on Thursday seems unlikely to break the congressional stalemate over funding for the Department of Homeland Security, which has been in a partial shutdown for weeks, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports. Among other programs, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Nonprofit Security Grant Program fall under the DHS funding bill, which Democrats have sought to renegotiate to implement new restrictions on Immigration and Customs Enforcement, following the deadly shootings of two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis.
Not shifting: Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) said that Republicans have tried to fund DHS through a short term stopgap bill as negotiations continue, but Democrats have refused. “It’s a dangerous game, and people are going to get hurt,” Thune said. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) pointed blame for the lack of NSGP funding toward Republicans, highlighting that they had blocked passage of legislation by Democrats on Thursday to fund and reopen portions of DHS, including FEMA. “Leader Schumer is an ardent supporter of NSGP funding, and this week, Republicans rejected Democratic efforts to fund the program through FEMA, along with the TSA, CISA, and the Coast Guard,” a spokesperson for Schumer told JI.
TAKING A STAND
Democratic divide over antisemitism erupts in clash between Third Way and Ro Khanna
Following a Republican convening this week focused on combating right-wing antisemitism, a prominent moderate Democratic group urged fellow Democrats to follow the lead of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) in calling out antisemitism within their own party. “We certainly believe that Cruz was right and our side has a real antisemitism problem too that too many Democrats are failing to face squarely,” Matt Bennett, executive vice president for public affairs at the center-left think tank Third Way, told Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch on Thursday.
Speaking out: His comments came after Lily Cohen, a press advisor at the organization, shared a post highlighting Cruz’s comments at the Republican Jewish Coalition confab and said she “would love to see more Dems calling out antisemitism on their own side with the same fervor.” Cohen specifically mentioned Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and the far-left, antisemitic streamer Hasan Piker. “We do believe that Platner has not remotely done enough to explain why he had a Nazi tattoo for 20 years,” said Bennett. Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), a progressive lawmaker who has been a frequent critic of Israel and pro-Israel activists in the U.S., responded to Cohen’s post by saying he stands with Platner, Mamdani and even Piker.
ISRAEL UNDER FIRE
Iranian missile injures 58, damages 300 homes in northern Israel
An Iranian missile struck northern Israel early Friday, injuring 58 residents and damaging 300 homes in Zarzir, a Bedouin town near Nazareth, Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov reports. A woman in her 30s was moderately injured by shrapnel in her back; the rest of the injuries were minor, according to Magen David Adom emergency services.
Threats from all sides: Soon after the attack, President Donald Trump issued a threat to Iran: “Watch what happens to these deranged scumbags today,” the president wrote on Truth Social. “They’ve been killing innocent people all over the world for 47 years, and now I, as the 47th president of the United States of America, am killing them. What a great honor it is to do so!” Iranian state TV said that new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei released his first statement since being named to the position earlier this week, after his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed in the initial strikes of the ongoing war with Iran, which began on Feb. 28. In the statement, Khamenei vowed that Iran “will not neglect avenging the blood of [the] martyrs.”
MISSOURI BREAKS
GOP Sens. Hawley, Schmitt suggest U.S. operations in Iran can wrap up soon
Both of Missouri’s Republican senators, Josh Hawley and Eric Schmitt, argued that the administration seems to have largely achieved its key objectives for the war in Iran — a posture that distinguishes him from most GOP colleagues and highlights subtle but emerging divisions among Republicans on the proper scope and duration of the war, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
What he said: “I assume our overriding national security objective when it comes to Iran is to prevent them from getting nukes. And between our bombing last June and in the last … 12 days, I don’t know how they’re going to reconstitute their nuclear program anytime in, maybe, our lifetimes,” Hawley told JI on Thursday. “My point is just that I think the military has achieved a tremendous amount. It has ended [Iran’s] nuclear program for all intents and purposes. It has destroyed their navy. It has eliminated most of their ballistic missiles — those are good things. I’d be glad to take that [win].” Eric Schmitt, who is also aligned with the populist wing of the party, likewise emphasized the progress the U.S. has made and pushed for a quick conclusion to the war.
DOWN BUT NOT OUT
Iran’s missile capabilities degraded despite recent increase in missile attacks, experts say
Despite a recent escalation in Iranian missile attacks targeting Israel, experts remain confident that Tehran’s military capabilities have been significantly degraded by the U.S. and Israel. U.S. and Israeli officials have touted that Iran’s missile capabilities have been severely reduced, with CENTCOM Commander Adm. Brad Cooper saying Wednesday that Iran’s ballistic missile attacks have “dropped drastically,” Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea reports.
State of play: That may not feel like the reality for Israelis — after four consecutive days of declining missile fire, Iran briefly increased its launches to 46 missiles on Wednesday, a roughly 70% percent increase from the 27 missiles fired the previous day. But the data shows and analysts remain confident that Iran’s stockpiles are being degraded. Ari Cicurel, the associate director of foreign policy at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America, told JI that the escalated attacks might actually be a “reflection of Iran’s degrading capabilities.”
Worthy Reads
A Bridge Too Far: Puck’s Julia Ioffe looks at the catch-22 facing Elbridge Colby, the Trump administration’s under secretary of war for policy, as the U.S. engages militarily with Iran — a strategy that Colby has long personally opposed. “Colby isn’t the first to strike this kind of Faustian — or simply Washingtonian — bargain over the past decade. But for him, as for everyone else, the MAGAfication cuts both ways. On one hand, he has political power and the kind of job that NatSec types dream of. On the other, that power is entirely subject to Trump’s whims. ‘He’s an ideological actor in an administration that has no ideology,’ a Democratic member of Congress told me.” [Puck]
Van Hollen’s Venom: In the Jewish News Syndicate, Betsy Berns Korn, chair of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, raises concerns about Sen. Chris Van Hollen’s (D-MD) allegation that AIPAC is “neither” a pro-American nor a pro-Israel organization. “Citizens advocate for stronger alliances with NATO partners, support Taiwan’s democracy, promote human-rights abroad, defend labor interests, protect the environment and work to expand trade relationships. That tradition of civic participation is a hallmark of American democracy. Advocacy for a strong relationship between the United States and Israel belongs squarely within that tradition. … Support for this partnership does not make Americans less loyal to their country. On the contrary, it reflects their judgment about what best serves American security, democratic values and global stability.” [JNS]
Regime Unchanged: The Washington Post’s David Ignatius warns that the U.S.’ strategy in Iran runs the risk of allowing the regime to stay in place. “If the conflict ends tomorrow, Iran will have lost nearly all its nuclear facilities and scientists, most of its missiles and missile launchers, most of its weapons factories, most of its navy, and much of the command and control for its military, intelligence and security forces. But the regime survives. It has taken America’s best punch, and it’s still standing. Tiers of senior military, intelligence and political leaders are dead, but they have been replaced by others. There’s no sign of a popular uprising. The cadres of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps hide among piles of rubble, but they haven’t been eliminated.” [WashPost]
Kurds Force: In New Lines Magazine, Laurent Perpigna Iban spotlights the Kurdish factions that had until recent days been under consideration by the U.S. to lead a ground incursion into Iran. “For the first time in their history, the various Iranian Kurdish factions have found common ground and established a platform for cooperation. … The project is more political than military, laying the groundwork for the protection of Iran’s Kurdish population. According to converging sources, discussions about a potential ground incursion do exist, even if such a scenario has not formally been placed on the table.” [NewLines]
Mind Meld on Iran: The Financial Times’ Neri Zilber reports on the close coordination between Washington and Jerusalem on the joint attack on Iran. “The speed and ferocity of the aerial campaign has required extraordinary levels of coordination — from the initial war plan that was put together to the thousands of phone conversations every day between the two militaries. ‘It’s a mind meld,’ said Dan Shapiro, a former senior US defence official and ambassador to Israel. … The close coordination, across the entire chain of command, has involved some 4,000 to 5,000 calls per day — from the chief of staff level down to the hundreds of pilots in the air at any given time, according to the senior Israeli military official.” [FT]
Word on the Street
Politico reports on Vice President JD Vance’s skepticism ahead of U.S. strikes on Iran; Vance reportedly privately conveyed his opposition to military action to senior administration officials…
President Donald Trump officially removed Carrie Prejean Boller from the Religious Liberties Commission, weeks after Prejean Boller vociferously defended antisemitic conspiracy theorist Candace Owens at a commission hearing…
Religious Liberties Commissionadvisory board member Sameerah Munshi, who had allied herself with Prejean Boller, announced her resignation from the board…
Trump nominated Sarah Rogers, the State Department’s undersecretary of state for public diplomacy, to lead the U.S. Agency for Global Media, days after a federal judge voided the actions undertaken at the agency under Kari Lake, who was serving as acting CEO; Rogers will maintain her State Department role in addition to leading USAGM…
The president also nominated United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Governing Council member Jeff Miller to serve as the body’s chair; Miller, who also serves on the board of the Republican Jewish Coalition, was first appointed to the USHMM’s governing council by Trump in 2021…
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) on Thursday introduced legislation, co-sponsored by Sens. Rick Scott (R-FL) and Tom Cotton (R-AR), designating the Polisario Front, the terrorist group that claims sovereignty over parts of the Western Sahara, as a foreign terrorist organization; “This bill will ensure that America’s most powerful anti-terrorism sanctions can be used to counter those threats and, once a designation is secured, the Polisario Front and its leaders will be cut off from access to the global financial system, international travel, and the resources they rely upon to conduct their terrorism,” Cruz told JI…
Following the Michigan synagogue attack, Rep. Max Miller (R-OH) shared on X an antisemitic death threat that he received, saying that they are a daily occurrence for him and other Jewish members of Congress…
Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-NY) raised concerns about the status of Kamran Hekmati, an Iranian-American Jewish constituent in Suozzi’s district who has been jailed in Iran for nearly a year after being arrested for having visited Israel more than a decade ago for his son’s bar mitzvah…
Reps. Sara Jacobs (D-CA), Jason Crow (D-CO) and Yassamin Anasari (D-AZ) led 121 House Democrats in a letter questioning the administration over a strike on an Iranian girls’ school reportedly executed by the U.S….
Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC), who is 85, announced that he will seek an 18th House term, two years after the South Carolina Democrat stepped down from his Democratic leadership role…
Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg endorsed New York state Assemblymember Micah Lasher, who had served as a mayoral aide to Bloombergin the Democratic primary to succeed Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY); Bloomberg is preparing to spend up to $5 million on an ad campaign boosting Lasher in the crowded 12th Congressional District primary…
The Treasury Department announced on Thursday that it was imposing sanctions on four “sham charity” groups in Turkey and Indonesia that it said are funnelling money and resources to Hamas, JI’s Marc Rod reports…
The Trump administration is temporarily lifting sanctions on Russian oil that is already at sea in an effort to lower prices as Iran maintains control over the Strait of Hormuz; Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Thursday that it was “unfortunate” that Moscow would benefit in the short term from the conflict with Iran…
The White House intervened to water down a broadly bipartisan sanctions bill targeting Iran’s oil exports to China, sources told Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod…
Turkish elites have reportedly begun circulating claims that Israel could turn its military attention toward Ankara should Iran emerge from the war depleted — a belief analysts say reflects growing mistrust and conspiratorial thinking in Turkey rather than any actual Israeli intent, JI’s Matthew Shea reports…
The Wall Street Journal gives a play-by-play accounting of the defection of six members of the Iranian women’s national soccer team, who sought asylum in Australia while playing in a tournament in the country…
Palestinian scholar Walid Khalidi, a co-founder of Beirut’s Institute for Palestine Studies, died at 100…
Pic of the Day
Amb. Michael Mann, the head of the European Union delegation to Israel, donated blood yesterday during a visit to Magen David Adom headquarters in the mixed central Israeli city of Ramla.
Birthdays
Four-time Israeli national champion in the skeleton event and pilot of Israel’s first-ever Olympic bobsled team in Milan, Adam “AJ” Edelman turns 35 on Saturday…
FRIDAY: Editor of Avotaynu Magazine, a journal of Jewish genealogy and scholarship, Sallyann Amdur Sack-Pikus turns 90… Former mayor of Miami Beach, Fla., and author of Destiny: From Shoeshine Boy to Mayor, Norman Ciment turns 90… Israeli singer, he won the 1978 Eurovision Song Contest, Izhar Cohen turns 75… Psychotherapist in private practice in Manhattan and Teaneck, N.J., Shana Yocheved Schacter… U.S. Sen. John Hoeven (R-ND) turns 69… Founder of the Drug Policy Alliance, a NYC-based organization working to end the war on drugs, Ethan Nadelmann turns 69… Professor of applied mathematics at Imperial College London, he is also a chess grandmaster, Jonathan Mestel turns 69… Former Florida congressman, Alan Grayson turns 68… Teacher of rabbinic literature and author of The Jewish Family Ethics Textbook, Rabbi Neal S. Scheindlin turns 66… Founder and CEO of MediaBistro which she sold in 2007, now managing director of Supernode Ventures, Laurel Touby turns 63… Heavy metal songwriter, vocalist for the band Disturbed as well as for the band Device, he is a former yeshiva student, David Draiman turns 53… Member of the California state Senate since 2014, Benjamin Allen turns 48… Former member of Knesset for the Jewish Home party and decorated IDF reservist, Yonatan “Yoni” Chetboun turns 47… Deputy campaign manager on Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-VT) 2020 presidential campaign, now host of radio show “The Agenda,” Ari Rabin-Havt… Television and film actor, Emile Hirsch turns 41… President and CEO of Nefco, a distributor of construction and industrial supplies, Matthew Gelles… Television and film actor, Emory Isaac Cohen 36… Senior director of social marketing at NBC Universal, Jessie Hannah Rubin… Former Formula 3 racing driver, his mother is Houda Nonoo, the first Jewish woman to serve as an ambassador of Bahrain, Menasheh Idafar turns 35… Gabriel Romano…
SATURDAY: Professor emeritus of chemistry at Tel Aviv University, winner of the 1982 Israel Prize, Joshua Jortner turns 93… Founder and retired president of Los Angeles-based Skirball Cultural Center, Rabbi Dr. Uri Herscher turns 85… Dean of Yeshiva Toras Moshe in Jerusalem, Rabbi Moshe Meiselman turns 84… Senior lecturer at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, Marshall Ganz turns 83… Canadian criminal defense attorney, Brian Greenspan turns 79… Actor, writer, producer, director and comedian, Billy Crystal turns 78… Former member of the Maryland House of Delegates for 28 years, Shane Elizabeth Pendergrass turns 76… One-half of the eponymous Ben & Jerry’s ice cream (Ben is four days younger), Jerry Greenfield turns 75… Retired Hebrew teacher, Eliezer Cohen Barak… Co-founder of the Adam and Gila Milstein Family Foundation, she is the president of Stand By Me, an organization that supports cancer patients, Gila Milstein… Partner at Hefter, Leshem, Margolis Capital Management Group of Wells Fargo Advisors in Highland Park, Ill., Steven Hefter… Founder and leader of ChangeCommunications, Jo-Ann Mort… NYC-based restaurateur and CEO of Union Square Hospitality Group, Danny Meyer turns 68… Professor in the department of Jewish philosophy at Tel Aviv University, Menachem Lorberbaum turns 68… Minneapolis-based attorney, Jonathan S. Parritz… Past president of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, Denise L. Eger turns 66… Owner of Baltimore’s Tov Pizza, which he founded in 1984, Ronnie Rosenbluth… Owner and COO of EJM Development Company, he also heads its lending division, New Frontier Capital, Jon Monkarsh… Microgrid architect at Urban Ingenuity and lecturer at Georgetown University, Shalom Flank, Ph.D… Film and television actress, she is best known for her title role in the 1985 film “The Journey of Natty Gann,” Meredith Salenger turns 56… Entrepreneur, musician, songwriter and record company executive, Josh Gruss turns 52… Screenwriter and film director, Etan Cohen turns 52… Canadian fashion stylist, publicist and close friend of Meghan Markle (her children were in the royal wedding as page boys and flower girl), Jessica Brownstein Mulroney turns 46… Heiress, together with her brother and cousins, to the Hyatt Hotels fortune, philanthropist, former child actress, Liesel Pritzker Simmons turns 42… Oldest of three sisters who are members of the rock band Haim, Este Arielle Haim turns 40… Former NASCAR driver, he is the sole inductee into the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame and Museum in the “Auto Racing” category, Jon Denning turns 39… Former point guard at the University of Pennsylvania, where he was the Ivy League player of the year in 2012, Zack Rosen turns 37… Director, screenwriter and actor, known for his work on “The Intern,” “Big Time Adolescence” and “I Want You Back,” Jason Orley turns 37… Product quality specialist at The Topps Company, Philip Liebman… Coach for first-time founders, Sophie Galant… CEO of Prizmah, Paul Bernstein…
SUNDAY: Emmy, Golden Globe and Tony Award-winning actor, active in film, television and on the stage, Judd Hirsch turns 91… UCLA professor, biochemist and biophysicist, David S. Eisenberg turns 87… First-ever NYC Public Advocate starting in 1994, he is an author of 23 books, Mark J. Green turns 81… British billionaire and philanthropist, former chairman of retail conglomerate Arcadia Group, Sir Philip Nigel Ross Green turns 74… Former managing member at Buena Vista Fund Management in San Francisco, now owner of a homemade bread business, Robert Mendel Rosner… Animator and director of numerous episodes of “The Simpsons,” David Silverman turns 69… Real estate agent at Signature Realty Associates in the Tampa and Florida Gulf Coast market, Ze’ev “Wolf” Bar-El… White House special envoy leading diplomatic efforts around the world, Steve Witkoff turns 69… Freelance writer and consultant, Bathsheva Gladstone… Executive director of the Jewish Culture Center at Indiana University Bloomington, Debra Barton Grant… Member of the Knesset for the Likud party, currently serving as speaker of the Knesset, Amir Ohana turns 50… Retired MLB infielder, he now owns Loma Brewing, a brew pub in Los Gatos, Calif., he was Team Israel’s batting coach in the 2023 World Baseball Classic, Kevin Youkilis turns 47… Global business editor for Defense One, where he writes about the intersection of business and national security, Marcus Weisgerber… Psychotherapist based in Raleigh, N.C., Mindy Beth Reinstein Brodsky… Born in Jerusalem, she is a member of the New York state Assembly for the northeast portions of Queens, Nily Rozic turns 40… Rapper, comedian and actor, better known by his stage name Lil Dicky, David Andrew Burd turns 38… Board chair at the African Middle Eastern Leadership (AMEL) Project and executive director of the 30 Birds Foundation, Justin Hefter… Co-founder of Punchbowl News, Rachel Schindler… and Rachel’s twin brother, college admissions consultant and SAT/ACT tutor, Max J. Schindler… Zach Shartiag… Professional wrestler, Maxwell Jacob Friedman turns 30…
Jewish groups urged congressional leaders after the attack to reach a deal to secure funding for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program
Emily Elconin/Getty Images
Parents carry their children to their cars as enforcement escorts families following an active shooter near Temple Israel on March 12, 2026 in West Bloomfield, Michigan.
The car ramming and shooting attack at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield Township, Mich., on Thursday seems unlikely to break the congressional stalemate over funding for the Department of Homeland Security, which has been in a partial shutdown for weeks.
Among other programs, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Nonprofit Security Grant Program fall under the DHS funding bill, which Democrats have sought to renegotiate to implement new restrictions on Immigration and Customs Enforcement, following the deadly shootings of two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis.
The bill, as originally drafted, would have provided $300 million for the NSGP, well below the $1 billion many Jewish community groups have said is necessary and the $500 million that many supporters of the program on the Hill have been advocating for.
“The consequences, impacts of not funding DHS are real, and they’re in an unsustainable position. [It’s] now been 14 days [that Democrats have] had the latest offer from the White House and haven’t responded to it,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) said on Thursday.
Thune also said that Republicans have tried to pass a stopgap funding measure, known as a continuing resolution (CR), to restore funding to DHS while negotiations continue, but Democrats rejected it.
“They’re trying to get up here and blame Republicans, and we’ve tried through a continuing resolution to fund the government to allow for the negotiations to continue, but our offer has been out there. They have yet to respond to it,” Thune continued. “We’re trying to fund everything with a CR to allow for those negotiations to continue, and they consistently block it. So it’s, I’m not sure, but it’s a dangerous game, and people are going to get hurt.”
But Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) pointed blame for the lack of NSGP funding toward Republicans, highlighting that they had blocked passage of legislation by Democrats on Thursday to fund and reopen portions of DHS, including FEMA.
“Leader Schumer is an ardent supporter of NSGP funding, and this week, Republicans rejected Democratic efforts to fund the program through FEMA, along with the TSA, CISA, and the Coast Guard,” a spokesperson for Schumer told Jewish Insider. “Democrats continue pushing for common-sense solutions Americans demand: to rein in ICE and make sure no more Americans are killed by unaccountable and masked individuals.”
Schumer had called for $500 million in funding for the program this year.
Multiple Jewish community groups urged lawmakers to move the DHS bill forward in light of Thursday’s attack.
“This latest attack shows the security crisis the Jewish community is facing & the need for more resources for our protection,” Nathan Diament, the executive director of the Orthodox Union Advocacy Center, wrote in a post on X. “The main source of security funding, the Nonprofit Security Grant Program, is bogged down in the DHS funding bill fight[.] Congress needs to act on this now.”
Diament added to JI that lawmakers “need to act — with urgency. We don’t care if the funding comes through a DHS appropriations agreement, the war supplemental or some other legislation — but it’s urgent and must be done.”
A spokesperson for the Jewish Federations of North America told JI, “Our position remains that there are vitally important programs for Jewish communal safety in the Homeland Security bill and that both sides must work to fund them as quickly as possible.”
Sydney Altfield, CEO of the Teach Coalition, which supports Jewish schools, also highlighted the DHS funding gridlock, and urged Congress to support a significant increase in NSGP funding.
“Right now the Nonprofit Security Grant Program, the main funding source protecting institutions like this one, is caught in the middle of a DHS funding fight in Congress. The government’s first responsibility is to protect its citizens,” Altfield said in a statement. “That is why Congress needs to bring NSGP funding levels to $1 billion before the next attack happens. Jewish families have been forced to pay an antisemitism tax for too long.”
Rabbi A.D. Motzen, the national director of government affairs for Agudath Israel of America, wrote on X, “Hopefully Congress will fund [DHS] soon so we can do more to stop these attacks from happening.”
The Anti-Defamation League also urged Congress to boost NSGP funding to $1 billion, without making direct mention of the stalled DHS funding talks.
“Today’s attack in Michigan is a painful reminder that Jewish communities remain targets of violent hate. At a time when threats are rising, at-risk communities must have the resources they need to protect themselves,” ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said. “The Nonprofit Security Grant Program has been a lifeline for synagogues, schools, and community centers seeking to strengthen their security.”
“Yet demand for this lifesaving program continues to far outpace available funding. We urge Congress to significantly increase funding for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program to $1 billion. The safety of American communities must remain a bipartisan priority,” he continued.
In a longer statement issued publicly, JFNA said that the attack at the suburban Detroit synagogue — and the actions of security guards in preventing deaths — highlights the need for additional government support.
“We cannot do it alone. Protecting citizens is the primary responsibility of the government. The Jewish community is forced to spend over $765 million a year to simply protect itself, and there is more the government should do to ensure every vulnerable Jewish institution has the resources to keep safe,” JFNA said in the statement.
“Today’s events prove once again that the investments our community have made in security play a critical role in keeping us safe, even in the face of the intolerable antisemitic violence around us,” the statement continued.
The group has been pushing for $1 billion in funding for the NSGP as part of a six-point plan for protecting the Jewish community, which is facing record levels of antisemitism, which have been exacerbated by the war in Iran.
The Temple Israel attack follows the January firebombing that left a historic Jackson, Miss., synagogue severely damaged.
Plus, Ro Khanna defends Hasan Piker amid Mich. attack
Emily Elconin/Getty Images
Law enforcement respond near Temple Israel following reports of an active shooter on March 12, 2026 in West Bloomfield, Mich.
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📡On Our Radar
Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking
A suspect was killed during an active shooter and car ramming incident at Temple Israel in the heavily Jewish Detroit suburb of West Bloomfield Township, Mich., this afternoon, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports.
Armed synagogue security engaged the suspect with gunfire, and a security guard who was knocked unconscious is expected to recover. A preschool that was in session at the time of the incident was evacuated safely. Authorities are continuing to investigate the suspect’s identity and motive.
“Everyone is safe. All 140 students in our Susan and Harold Loss Early Childhood Center, our amazing staff, our courageous teachers, and our heroic security personnel are all accounted for and safe,” the synagogue wrote on social media. “This note is coming to you before we know anything about our future programming or services, or any investigation. We wanted you to know we are safe, and we love you all”…
Mojtaba Khamenei, Iran’s new supreme leader, issued his first public statement today that indicates he’s as hard-line as his late father: Khamenei demanded the U.S. shut all its military bases in the Gulf immediately and said he’ll continue to target the Strait of Hormuz in order to “pressure the enemy.” His statement was read on state media indirectly by a presenter, as reports indicate the 56-year-old was injured in an Israeli strike and he has not been seen in public since.
President Donald Trump did not seem dissuaded — he posted on Truth Social, “when oil prices go up” the U.S. makes “a lot of money,” but “of far greater importance to me, as President, is stopping an evil Empire, Iran, from having Nuclear Weapons”…
Following a Republican convening this week focused on combating right-wing antisemitism, the center-left think tank Third Way urged fellow Democrats to follow the lead of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) in calling out antisemitism within their own party.
“We certainly believe that Cruz was right and our side has a real antisemitism problem too that too many Democrats are failing to face squarely,” Matt Bennett, the group’s executive vice president for public affairs, told JI’s Gabby Deutch.
Similar comments from Third Way staff sparked a public clash with Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), who defended controversial left-wing figures including antisemitic streamer Hasan Piker and said the true issue lies with the “neocons” in the party…
Less than a week until primary election day in Illinois’ 9th Congressional District, outside spending in the race is approaching $9 million, the majority of which is aimed at boosting state Sen. Laura Fine, a pro-Israel Democrat. Nearly half of all outside spending has come from the Elect Chicago Women super PAC, widely rumored to be connected to pro-Israel groups.
Another PAC rumored to be connected to AIPAC, Chicago Progressive Partnership, has spent over $1 million attacking anti-Israel social media influencer Kat Abughazaleh, including a new ad that spotlights her support from James “Fergie” Cox Chambers Jr., a communist political activist and scion of the billionaire Cox family often involved in radical-left causes…
A new poll commissioned by the far-left advocacy group Justice Democrats finds Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) in a competitive race for his seat — he’s now neck-and-neck with his primary opponent, state Rep. Justin Pearson. Pearson, a progressive legislator, gained public attention for being expelled from the Statehouse in 2023 for participating in a gun control protest on the floor…
Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg endorsed Assemblyman Micah Lasher, his former staffer, in the hotly contested primary race for New York’s 12th Congressional District today, calling him “a key part of our team in City Hall.” Bloomberg plans to spend “millions of dollars” on a super PAC and ad campaign to boost Lasher, The New York Times reports, a notable effort by the popular former mayor to elevate Lasher among the pack…
Trump has delayed endorsing Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) in the Texas Senate runoff against Attorney General Ken Paxton, which Trump implied last week he would do imminently, instead using the potential endorsement to pressure Senate Republicans to change filibuster rules and pass his voter-ID bill. Paxton raised the stakes by saying he might drop out if the bill passes, a move that forced Cornyn to shift his stance on the filibuster…
The Boston Globe looks at Rep. Seth Moulton’s (D-MA) efforts to get on the Democratic primary ballot in his race against Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA), which will require him to receive support from 15% of delegates at the state Democratic Party’s upcoming convention. Moulton is attempting to recruit unregistered voters to become delegates in order to boost his chances, which observers are split on…
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Shortly after the organization elevated a new political director who is closely tied to neo-Nazi Nick Fuentes, College Republicans of America’s chapter at Georgetown University came under investigation by the school for a social media post in which it claimed “Muslims have no place in American society”…
The Wall Street Journal spotlights Adm. Brad Cooper, commander of CENTCOM, as he “stay[s] out of the politics of the war” in Iran “and remains focused on waging it”…
The Treasury Department issued sanctions against four “sham charity” groups in Turkey and Indonesia that it said are funneling money and resources to Hamas’ military wing, JI’s Marc Rod reports…
⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today
An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead
Keep an eye out in Jewish Insider for reaction to today’s attack on Michigan’s Temple Israel from Jewish leaders and leading lawmakers.
The South by Southwest festival will hold its annual #openShabbat experience for Jews in tech, film and music tomorrow in Austin, Texas.
A Saturday fundraiser for Rep. Zach Nunn (R-IA) with an appearance by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in Nunn’s home district in Iowa has been canceled; the event, called “Top Nunn” in reference to the “Top Gun” movies, had drawn scrutiny after several soldiers who had been stationed in Nunn’s district were killed in the course of the war with Iran.
The Jewish Funders Network international conference starts Sunday in San Diego.
HaZamir: The International Jewish Teen Choir performs at Lincoln Center in New York City on Sunday evening.
The Zionist Organization of America will host its Florida Superstar Gala Sunday evening, where it will honor Pastor John Hagee, founder of Christians United for Israel; Justice Department official Leo Terrell; and Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL), among others.
We’ll be back in your inbox with the Daily Overtime on Monday. Shabbat Shalom!
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Armed security stationed at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, Mich., engaged with the attempted shooter, who was identified by DHS as Ayman Mohamad Ghazali
Emily Elconin/Getty Images
Law enforcement respond near Temple Israel following reports of an active shooter on March 12, 2026 in West Bloomfield, Mich.
An assailant was killed during an active shooter situation at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield Township, Mich., law enforcement officials confirmed on Thursday afternoon. One other person, a security guard, was injured.
The attack is being investigated as a “targeted act of violence against the Jewish community,” Jennifer Runyan, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Detroit field office, confirmed in a Thursday evening press conference.
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson confirmed to Jewish Insider that the attack was carried out by Ayman Mohamad Ghazali.
Ghazali, 41, was born in Lebanon and entered the U.S. in 2011 on an IR1 immigrant visa as the spouse of a U.S. citizen. He was granted U.S. citizenship in 2016, according to DHS.
Armed security stationed at the synagogue engaged with Ghazali inside a vehicle that “breached the facility by driving into it,” Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said. Shots were fired and Ghazali was killed inside the vehicle, according to Bouchard, who added that “we can’t say what killed him at this point, but security did engage him with gunfire.”
Bouchard said that a security guard who was knocked unconscious during the incident and hospitalized “should be OK.”
The Oakland County Sheriff’s Office said the vehicle likely intentionally crashed into the synagogue, causing the building to catch fire. Smoke could be seen billowing from the roof in early live news footage.
Temple Israel, one of the largest Reform congregations in the U.S., runs a preschool, which was in session at the time of the incident. In a message to members, the synagogue said that “all students and staff are safe” and had been evacuated to a nearby location.
Bouchard added that he and other law enforcement leaders had been preparing for a scenario such as this for the last two weeks, around the start of the U.S. and Israeli war in Iran.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, as well as the three main Democratic candidates vying for the U.S. Senate seat to represent the state, swiftly issued statements on X addressing the incident.
“Michigan’s Jewish community should be able to live and practice their faith in peace,” said Whitmer. “Antisemitism and violence have no place in Michigan.”
“Before our very eyes, a Temple in West Bloomfield is under attack,” said Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI), who represents the district where Temple Israel is located. “Like many of you, I am getting reports in real time. To everyone in Michigan’s 11th district, continue to follow the guidance of local law enforcement. To the Jewish American community in Michigan and beyond, we stand with you.”
“I’m hearing the first reports of an incident at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield,” said state Sen. Mallory McMorrow “Please stay away from the area and listen to direction from first responders as we wait to learn more.”
“The rise in antisemitism is not abstract. It’s not left or right. It is here. It is in our state, our community, just miles from my own house. It is in our neighborhoods, our schools, our houses of worship. Enough,” she said in a follow-up statement later on Thursday afternoon.
Far-left Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed said that he was “horrified to hear the reports of an active shooter at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield. Please stay safe if you’re in the area. This kind of violence has no place in our communities.”
State Sen. Jeremy Moss, the front-runner to succeed Stevens in Congress, said in a statement that he has “been in contact with local officials to monitor the active shooting at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield and am praying for everyone inside … We’re living through an incredibly agonizing time in our Jewish community. We deserve safety in our synagogues, schools, and everywhere else. This rise in targeted hate and violence is untenable.”
Speaking to reporters on Capitol Hill Thursday afternoon, Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) said she “grew up not far from” Temple Israel.
Slotkin declined to “get ahead of the police” as “law enforcement are still securing the scene.” She urged the public to “listen to the warnings that they’re putting out.”
Amid rising antisemitism in Michigan, Steven Ingber, CEO of the Jewish Federation of Detroit, said during a Thursday evening press conference that he was not “shocked or surprised” by the attack.
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